Information and commentary about the struggle for democracy in the African kingdom of Swaziland

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

KINGDOM FAILS SADC DELEGATES

King Mswati III, the autocratic King in Swaziland and
soon-to-be Chair of SADC, has been exposed for misleading the 15-nation
community that his kingdom was capable of holding the organisation’s 36th
Summit.

Swaziland is so poor and lacking in infrastructure
that is has been unable to find living accommodation for all those wanting to
attend the Summit. A call went out this week for people to offer up spare houses
to delegates.

King Mswati who has been a controversial choice as the
next Chair of the Southern African Development Community has used the Summit as
part of his campaign to convince his subjects that Swaziland will be a
‘first-world’ nation by 2022.

The Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom where King Mswati rules as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported on Wednesday (24 August
2016), ‘a number
of the delegates found themselves with no accommodation as most of the hotels
and lodges along the Mbabane/ Ezulwini/ Manzini corridor are fully booked. It
was gathered that a search for people who own houses that could be used to
accommodate some of the delegates was instituted.

‘A government official, who is part of the committee responsible for
welcoming SADC delegates, said they were currently running around trying to get
accommodation for the stranded delegates.’

The Times reported, ‘Director
of the SADC Unit Chazile Magongo said it was the responsibility of the Ministry
of Tourism and Environmental Affairs to provide accommodation for SADC
delegates.’

The situation on the ground contradicts the message
that King Mswati’s supporters have been spreading in recent weeks that the
kingdom was able to support such a prestigious Summit. Seven in ten of King Mswati’s
1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than two US
dollars a day.

The King has been a controversial choice of SADC Chair
because Swaziland is the only one of 15 SADC nations where political parties
are banned from taking part in elections. King Mswati chooses the government
and no members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the people.

King Mswati had used the Summit to try to impress that
his kingdom was a developed country.

Mbongeni
Mbingo, editor-in-chief of the Swazi
Observer, a series of newspapers in effect owned by the King, wrote as recently
as Sunday
(21 August 2016), ‘The King’s
vision has always been about showing that we are capable of just like the
bigger countries in the region, to stage as successful an event as them - and
that we can also demonstrate that while we are quite small and have a stunted
economy, we can be counted on to show that we are indeed a nation in progress.’’

He added,
‘Prince Hlangusempi informed the media, this past week, that Swaziland had
always opted against hosting the Summit, when its opportunity to host came up.
It was never ready, and His Majesty always felt that it was not the right time
to do so.

‘However,
when the opportunity availed itself this year, and His Majesty was to become
the next chairman of the SADC, he felt the opportunity could not be missed again
- or it could be another 14 or so years before we could host.

‘Therefore,
he decided that it was time to accept this challenge. Since then, he has worked
hard at ensuring that the country does not do an average job. This meant we had
to get the facilities to match our ambition.’